The Moon Chronicles Serina’s Beginning Book 1
by KrazyKatLady
Summary: “Sailor Moon and Harry Potter fans everywhere; someone was actually crazy enough to combine the two along with a little Inuyasha added in; so enjoy!”
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER;  
**  
We do not own Harry Potter, or Sailor Moon, or Inuyasha, or whatever else Tris decides to use in this story! Some things are hers but there is so much in this story it's a little hard to tell at first what is hers and what isn't (Just think about it & you'll what's hers & what's not!).  
  
** SUMMARY;  
**  
Intro by the 1rst author (which by the way I am not. I am just the 2nd author/ 1rst Editor/publisher!);  
  
"Sailor Moon and Harry Potter fans everywhere; someone was actually crazy enough to combine the two along with a little Inuyasha added in; so enjoy!"  
  
** FLAMES WELCOME!!!!!!!!  
  
** ** Prologue  
  
Doorstep delivery**  
  
There was nothing strange about the night sky on that cold, late,  
autumn evening in early November; at least not to the sleepy residents  
of that small, suburban town near London (the precise name of it is of  
no importance). There were very few people who were restless enough to  
look out of there windows at the moon, a thin, crescent, which seemed  
odd for that time of night, and gave an eerie feeling when a cloud  
passed by it. Even fewer people were awake enough on Floral Street to  
see that the mysterious fog that was seeping out of the nearby forest.  
In fact, the only living things to witness these peculiar happenings  
were a strange owl (that in itself was strange, as owls were not  
common in that area) who decided to perch on the street sign to clean  
his feathers. As well as a black cat that was sitting near a gardening  
shed.  
  
Then, near midnight, there was a rustling of leaves coming from  
the forest. It wasn't like being blown by a slight breeze, but like  
that of a person's clothing, maybe a long cloak (or something along  
those lines) dragging along the ground. To an onlooker, that would be  
considered one of the most unusual things to happen in a place like  
that.  
  
Ever sense the founding of Crescent Park, a small area that used to be  
a part of the forest before a little section of it was developed. No  
one dared to go into the woodland area, especially at night. Almost  
everyone was afraid of it. Some thought that spirits haunted it, while  
others believed that it was a portal to another dimension. A few  
children said that it was a landing site for space aliens, but most  
people believed it to be cursed. Some of the townsfolk, particularly  
politicians, tried time and time again to get the rest of that land  
developed. However, every time they tried, the machinery broke down,  
parts and tools went missing, or great storms would blow through and  
many other mysterious fatal accidents and happenings would prevent the  
workers from harming a single tree. On rare occasions, someone would  
go in there and come out minutes later, screaming as if they had seen  
death and ranting of dreadful things that sounded like nonsense. After  
the tenth victim, eleven years before the house at number thirteen was  
purchased, no one had dared to try to destroy the rest of the forest.  
  
At the sound of the forest stirring, the owl turned his head, as if to  
see what made that sound, then flew off like he was bored with the  
night's events in that vicinity. Then, a tall and mysterious old man  
appeared out of the heavy mist, a man who was the strangest visitor to  
come to Floral Street, or to that town for that matter. His choice in  
clothing was most contrary to what people of that community believed  
to be proper. He wore long roes of deep maroon with a matching,  
pointed hat that was embroidered with golden stars. His feet had a  
pair of sandals over them, and he carried a small, drawstring bag tied  
to his belt, which was violet coloured with a red, yellow, blue and  
green crest on the buckle. This strange traveler carried a staff with  
a large piece of purple quarts tied to it. The rod was about the same  
height as the stranger, but looked a great deal older then him. When  
it came to his face, he had a long nose, and a long silver beard and  
hair. His light indigo eyes gave him that look of great wisdom on his  
ancient face, but also gave a presence of youthful energy and  
tremendous power. He looked as if he could have been Father Time, or  
The Old Man of the Universe, but his name was Prospero **Dumbledore**. [If  
a character has the same name, or a part of it is the same if not  
similar to the original that means that the character in question  
doesn't need to be tampered with to accommodate the other changes I  
made, or, (like in this case) I couldn't think up a better one. I am  
opened to suggestions with names in **bold**]  
Calmly, he walked out of the forest and stood in the middle of the  
road. He looked left, then he looked right. There wasn't a single  
living being in the street that could be seen. He opened the  
drawstring bag and pulled out a small, glass cube. Then, Dumbledore  
put it in the palm of his outstretched hand. What happened next would  
have been considered by the people of that town or by most of the  
modern world, nothing short of impossible. The cube stood upon one of  
its points, and started rotating in Dumbledore's hand. Next, it rose  
slowly into the air until it was even with the lampposts.  
Dumbledore then pointed his crystal-toped staff at the lamppost on his  
right, and the cube zoomed toward the light. It was approaching the  
lantern so fast that looked as if both the cube and the light would  
collide and shatter. But, instead of breaking, the cube went right  
through the street lamp without a scratch or a sound. The glass that  
was holding the light bulb wasn't damaged either. However, as the cube  
flew through the fixture, the light in the bulb went out while a light  
in the same colour appeared in the center cube itself.  
  
Dumbledore pointed his great stick at another light, this time aiming  
at a porch light. It too went out as soon as the cube passed through  
it, with the light at its center shining a little brighter. The  
process repeated itself again and again as the Light-Taker got  
steadily brighter, and the street getting darker, until the only light  
was that of the moon, the stars, and the porch light of number  
thirteen. At this house, Dumbledore took a few steps forward and  
stretched his hand out again, and the Light-Taker flew back into it,  
looking more like a geometric star then a flying lantern.  
  
After he slipped it back in it's drawstring bag, Dumbledore heard a  
sound that came from the nearby garden shed. The sound startled him a  
bit, but he just calmly turned his head toward its source. It was  
coming from the black cat that had sat in front of the shed for the  
majority of the night. At the sight of the cat, he smiled.  
  
"I should have known that you would be here," said Dumbledore,  
"Professor McGonagall"  
  
The cat took a few steps forward, and transformed into a woman. She  
was middle aged, and wore robes of a deep emerald and black velvet  
with a red belt and buckle that had a gold crest with a lion. A silver  
and amber brooch held up her matching cloak, and on her head, just  
above the bun at the base of her neck, was a black pointed hat with a  
wide brim. Professor McGonagall also had an air of great strictness  
about her. Indeed, her eyes were just as piercing in her human form as  
when she was a cat. Even her voice was curt with regulation.  
  
"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore," responded McGonagall. She  
walked briskly toward the old man, then slowed to her steady pace down  
the street.  
  
"Are the rumors true, Prospero?" asked McGonagall. She was always  
right to the point on important matters with a lot of the people she  
was familiar with, Dumbledore being no exception, but the crispness  
that was usually in her voice had a bit of worry in it.  
  
"I am afraid so," said Dumbledore somberly. "Both the good, and the  
bad."  
  
"And They were so young too; they had there whole before them,"  
McGonagall whispered, with more emotion in it then usual, and more to  
herself then her companion.  
  
"Indeed they were and did," replied Dumbledore sadly.  
  
"And, the girl?," Inquired McGonagall, in her normally professional  
tone.  
  
"Caliban's bringing her," answered Dumbledore.  
McGonagall's eyes widened a bit, as if in shock, and she tried to  
continue in her usual fashion, although she had great difficulty  
hiding her concern.  
  
"You don't really thing it wise to trust Caliban with something as  
important as this, do you?" she asked, hoping that Dumbledore wasn't  
being serious. They came to a stop in front of the only house on the  
street that still had its porch lit.  
  
"I would trust Caliban with my own life," said Dumbledore with a bit  
of a laugh in his voice. Then he fell silent and gave McGonagall's  
question an actual thought.  
  
"Then again-"he started.  
  
Suddenly a great noise, like that of a motor, split the silence of the  
night and was followed by a bright light. As the light got brighter,  
the noise got louder, then a huge Harley-Davidson chopper fell out of  
the sky, and landed with a loud thud, and stopping at only a few  
centimeters away from them.  
  
The motorcycle was very large, but the man riding it was about two to  
three meters tall, and was wide enough to take up a whole love seat,  
if not an entire sofa. He had a large helmet the size of a large  
bucket, as well as a wild black beard and hair. Even his face was  
black, until he removed the goggles from his eyes. He also had some  
sort of brown satchel over his shoulder.  
  
"Good evenin', professor Dumbledore, sir. Professor McGonagall," said  
the large man as he got of the motorbike gingerly.  
  
"Oh, my goodness!" said McGonagall. She was still shaken from the  
overwhelmingly large and loud contraption that looked as if it was  
going to crash into her and Dumbledore. Dumbledore, however, wasn't at  
all perturbed, and just took a few steps toward the mammoth of a man.  
  
"There weren't any problems, were there, Caliban?" asked Dumbledore.  
  
"No, sir, other then the rubble," said Caliban, pulling a silver-white  
bundle out of his bag carefully and walked over to Dumbledore. "Little  
angel fell asleep just as we wen' flyin' over Liverpool. She always  
seemed to like thunderstorms," Caliban chuckled. McGonagall had calmed  
down a bit, and when Dumbledore handed her his amethyst- toped rod and  
took the bundle from Caliban  
  
"Try not to wake her," whispered Caliban as he handed the old man the  
bundle. "There you go."  
  
Dumbledore parted the blankets slightly to see the contains of the  
blankets more clearly; McGonagall also moved in closer to see its only  
occupant closely.  
  
Inside the silvery blankets, fast asleep, was a beautiful baby girl.  
What an unusual child she was, though! Her hair was, not a colour that  
was considered normal for a child, like blonde, brown, or black, but a  
lovely shade of Aquarius-rose-pink, and it was put up in two curly  
ponytails with white ribbons. Her bangs curled a bit and formed a  
heart-shaped gap in the middle of her forehead that revealed a golden  
birthmark in the exact shape of an upwards pointing crescent. A  
twelve pointed nova that started with the points stretched with the  
top point touching the hair line and the lowest point reaching between  
her eye brows. (Or, at least, it kind of looked like one) that  
slightly glowed a violent shade of Green.  
  
"Is that where-?" began Professor McGonagall.  
  
"Yes," answered Dumbledore. "She will have that scar for the rest of  
her life."  
  
"But, can't you-?" started McGonagall.  
  
"All I can do is ease it a little," replied Dumbledore, pulling out a  
wand that was 39 ½ centimeters long from his pocket. "And even if I  
could, I wouldn't. Scars like this can be very useful at times, and,  
unless I am mistaken, this particular one may prove to be very  
helpful."  
  
He then walked over to McGonagall and touched the purple crystal on  
his staff with the tip of the wand, and touched the radiant mark on  
the infant's forehead; it instantly stopped shining, and went from  
green to the same purple colour as the stone on Dumbledore rod.  
  
"What about that crescent mark?" she questioned. "Doesn't it mean-"  
  
"Maybe," he replied. "I'm not too sure, either."  
  
They all starred at the child for a moment, and then McGonagall  
brought up another point she wanted clarity about.  
  
"You don't really thing that it's safe, leaving her with these  
people?" queried McGonagall as the party advanced to number 13. "I  
have been watching this family ever sense you considered to give her  
to them. They are possibly the worst sort of _muggles_ imaginable, for  
raising a child like her. They really are-"  
"All the family she has left," said Dumbledore, walking up the steps  
to the door.  
  
"But, all the same, I do believe that she would be better off with  
someone else," McGonagall persisted.  
  
"I mean, this girl will be famous! There won't be a person in our  
world who won't know her name!"  
  
"All the more reason that she should stay here," answered Dumbledore.  
"She would be better of, growing up away from all that..." He paused to  
look at the sleeping child. "Until she is ready."  
  
He laid the baby on the front doorstep gently, and pulled out a letter  
from his drawstring bag. It was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. W. Fiore in  
purple ink. Caliban then let out a soft, but audible sob.  
"There, there, Caliban," said Dumbledore comfortingly, turning to the  
large man. "It's not really good-bye, after all."  
  
He then took his staff back from McGonagall, then placed the letter on  
top of the bundle. Then he straightened up, and prepared to leave. But  
before he removed the Light-Taker to re-light Floral Street, he took  
one last glance at the pink-haired child, and whispered to the night,  
"Good Luck, Serina Moon."  
  
Thus begins the story of The Moon Chronicles; Serina's Beginning.  
  
** TIME TO VOTE!  
We can't decide on a name for the school so we want you to:  
Zodiac Academy of Sorcery (ME)  
OR  
Avolon Academy of Sorcery (Tris)**

** Send in your vote with your review!  
  
FLAMES WELCOME!!!!!!!! **


	2. 1 The Snake in the Glass

We do not own Harry Potter, Sailor Moon, Cardcaptors, Silver Dreams, or Inuyasha. Nor do we own what ever else we decide to put in this story, or forgot to mention. The only things we own is the stuff that we came up with are selves!  
  
**CHAPTER 1  
  
The Snake in the Glass  
  
**Over a period of ten years, the family of number 13, Floral Street looked like the typical British family of three. At least, that's what they looked like to the public eye. The child that was left for them to take care of slept in a closet under the stairs with the lock on the outside, but other then that, there was no evidence of a child in that home. Except for the son of Walter and Abigail Fiore. At that moment, her Aunt Abigail woke up the girl violently. The vent on the door, which acted as her only window, and could be only opened from the outside, snapped open with her aunt yelling through the slits in the vent, and rapping at the door.  
  
"Up!" she shouted, "Get up!'  
  
She let out a sigh, then rapped at the door again to prevent the child from going back to sleep.  
  
"Now!" barked Aunt Abigail, then she snapped the lock open and walked off into the kitchen, slamming the door behind her. Her niece was very much awake, but she wished that she could go back to sleep. She had dreamed that she was playing with eleven other children her age that were almost like her in a way. At least, they were as different. In real life, she didn't have any friends. She turned on the light in her closet, and started fixing her long hair into a braid (which took a very short time considering its length). Then, just as she was pinning it into a flat bun, someone, about 68 to 90 kilograms in weight, started running down the steps. "Brandon," she thought. Then he turned around and ran back up them, laughing his head off. The girl's ceiling creaked horribly with every quick and heavy step the boy took, and a lot of the dust up there loosened. Then the heavyset boy jumped from stair to stair. His cousin wouldn't have been surprised her a bit if he fell through them from jumping on them so much, but she was amazed on the fact that the structure of those steps could take so much abuse.  
  
"Wake up, Annie!" shouted Brandon, focusing all his weight on the step directly above his cousin's head, "We're going to the zoo!"  
  
The girl, known as Annie Gray, rolled her eyes. She was so caught up in her dream, that she forgot that it was Brandon's birthday. Not that she would complain (especially sense she would have been beaten by her uncle if she did so), But on rare cases when she had to go out with the Fiores to celebrate with them; something would almost always happen that would give her a beating and get her locked in her closet for an indefinite period of time.  
  
Annie had finished pinning a brown wig in her hair, and barely set foot in the hallway when she heard Brandon let out a cruel laugh, and caught her in the stomach as he shoved her back in the closet. He also kicked the door closed in her face before he ran into the kitchen. Annie opened the door again and walked into the kitchen as well, rubbing the back of her head (which had hit the wall when she fell back).  
  
"Here comes the Birthday Boy!" she heard Aunt Abigail in the baby voice she only used for Brandon. Annie wasn't surprised by what she heard, but hearing her aunt talk to her son in that manner was always sickening to her.  
  
"Happy birthday, son," said her uncle, Alfred, as Annie entered the kitchen. She starred at her stepfamily for a second, thinking about how different she was from them, or from the whole world, as far as she knew.  
  
Annie wasn't at all like the Fiores, both physically, and ethically, as well as ethically. Uncle Alfred, a heavy-set man with graying hair and a mustache, was a supervisor for a company that made what Annie called widgets (because the products that were manufactured were way beyond useless and pointless). He saw nothing wrong with a "good beating" wen used to correct a child's behavior, and would go out bingeing on occasions, always coming home very drunk. Aunt Abigail was thin and bony, and had a lot of stretch marks all over her body that suggested that she was as large as the rest of her family when she was a child. Brandon was a fat boy with short, dark hair that was slightly curly, and eyelashes that were longer then average maybe it was because he looked more like a girl then a boy, or because he almost always got what he wanted, no one knows. But ever sense his first day of school, he was one of the meanest boys in the neighborhood as well as one of the stupidest, although his parents never knew about any of this.

Annie, on the other hand, was an adorable little girl who was very polite, had a fluid walk, graceful mannerisms, and was very talented in arts like drawing, singing, poetry, and (her most often used skill), acting. Annie was also very odd physically. She had a structure that was a bit taller then average, her long hair was a colour that could be only described as Aquarian-pink, and her naturally curled bangs had a parting in the middle that was the shape of a heart. She also had moonlit eyes that were a silvery rainbow blue, like a sapphire or a kaleidoscope, and were usually softly focused, as if she was looking at some distant point. Annie also had a strange mark on her forehead. It was a purple, twelve pointed nova that looked more like a scar then anything. It was large enough to touch her hairline, and could almost reach her eyebrows. Inside the 'scar', perfectly visible, was a gold-coloured birthmark that was shaped like an upward-pointing crescent. However, despite her exotic adorably, she did have a lot of things to draw away from her bizarre, yet charming features. For starters, Annie had to ware a brown wig over her hair, as it couldn't be dyed (a number of attempts and a few pounds in hair-colouring products and were spent to prove it). She also had to ware a lot of makeup to hide the marks on her forehead.

Annie had dark circles under her eyes, as she was frequently tired, even in the times when she did get a good night's sleep (she was usually kept up by the sound of rodents in the walls, or the horrible draft in the corner near her left foot). Then there was the fact that the Fiores gave her the smallest of meal portions, even if she was the one serving and cooking it. Everyone always ate so much that all Annie could get would get were the leftovers, and Brandon always stole more then half of her food. She always went hungry when she went to sleep. Because she was frequently locked in her closet for long periods of time, she was not only dangerously thin from starvation, but very pale from lack of fresh air. Annie also had a lot of bruises on her from either Brandon and his friends hitting her (which she could get away from more easily as she was a fast and fluid sprinter). Or Uncle Alfred, who Annie couldn't get away from so easily, as he would grab hold of her before she could move. In spite of the fact that all the abuse made her look frail.

If she could, she would easily defend herself, as well as break a few bones. Annie was a Black Belt in Martial Arts, like Karate, Jujitsu, tai chi, and Kick- boxing. She could even use a few weapons (her favorites being the Katana, the Jin sward, and the bow and arrow). The only reason why she didn't use those skills was because she would lose what little access she had to learning. When she was six, the Fiores removed Annie from school because she was at the top of the class while Brandon was considered one of the worst students in the school. His parents, thinking that Annie had cheated, copied Brandon's work, switched papers, and who knows what other answers to why Brandon "couldn't take the pressure of being with someone like Annie," removed her from school. Brandon had forced his cousin to do his homework for him while Annie had to stay at home.

In time, while Uncle Walter was at work and Aunt Abigail went down the street for tea, Annie took to going down a few blocks to the public library; Never checking out any books, and returning home before anyone else did. It took very little time for her to teach herself, not only the school curriculum, but also a lot of the things that most people didn't learn until after years at a university. It wasn't very long before Annie (if she was still in school) could have been considered to be a child prodigy. She could already solve complex calculus problems, knew advanced geography and history, was gifted in science (particularly in astronomy and technology), and could read stories like Moby Dick, and authors like William Shakespeare in original dialogue before she was eight. She was also fluent in reading, writing, and speaking Japanese, Latin, German, and a little French. But despite her many mental, physical, and ethical graces, she was no more then the servant in the household.  
  
"How is my little Brandykins?" Aunt Abigail continued in that ridiculously gigglish baby voice. Then she realized that Annie was there. With an unpleasant surprise did Annie return to reality. It was almost constant for her to find herself in a dream, weather she was awake or asleep, as it was her main escape from her horrid life.  
  
"Stop daydreaming and put yourself to good use instead of standing around I've been at this stove for ten minutes already," barked Aunt Abigail. "Why don't cook breakfast like you were supposed to and do try not to burn anything."  
  
"Yes, Aunt Abigail," said Annie, hurrying to the stove to finish fixing the ham, Although her voice had the capability of being heard in a large and crowded room, it was unusually quiet most of the time, like a rabbit, in a way.  
  
"I want everything to be perfect," Aunt Abigail continued, this time in that stupid baby voice while leading Brandon to the other side of the kitchen with his eyes covered, "for Brandon's special day!"  
  
As Annie started serving breakfast, Uncle Alfred first as always, he now started bossing her.  
  
"Hurry up!" he commanded. Annie tried getting the plate to him as fast as she could without dropping anything. "And bring my coffee, girl," he clamored.  
  
"Yes, Uncle Alfred," she answered, laying the food in its proper place. Then she grabbed the coffeepot for her uncle just as Aunt Abigail uncovered Brandon's eyes.  
  
Before him was a mound of presents; much larger then was normal for little boys to receive. But instead of jumping up and down, yelling with joy, or any sound of excitement from the amount of gifts, as most children would have done, his expression became cross, as if something was missing. At that moment, Aunt Abigail saw his expression.  
  
"Aren't they wonderful?" she asked, hoping that Brandon would calm down a bit, but then he turned to his father.  
  
"How many are there?" Brandon demanded.  
  
"Thirty-six," answered Uncle Alfred, smiling, "counted them myself."  
  
"Thirty-six?" screamed Brandon. "Thirty-six!?! But, last year! Last year, there were thirty-seven!"  
  
As Annie poured Uncle Alfred his coffee, she rolled her eyes. Uncle Alfred tried to reason with his son.  
  
"Yes, well, some of these presents are a lot bigger and a bit more valuable then last year's," he said.  
  
"I don't care how big they are!" bellowed Brandon. Annie sensed that her cousin was about to start a tantrum, so she prepared to duck if he started to throw things around the room. Aunt Abigail seemed to notice the same warning signs. She crouched down in front of her son and said, "Now, now, now, here's what we're going to do, when we go out, we're going to stop and buy you two more presents. How's that, pudding?"  
  
Annie shook her head. This tactic was very common when it came to calming Brandon. While most children were happy with the gifts, they received for their holidays (Annie herself would have been happy enough just to receive something, as she had almost never received a present in her life). Brandon always wanted the same number as the last year, if not more. To him, gifts on Christmas, his birthday, or any holiday, were forms of payment for simply existing. He was so spoiled, that he would be paid for Annie doing all the housework. She couldn't stand him, but as much as Annie disliked Brandon, she would worry about him at these times how he would live when he was old enough to move away from his parents.  
  
After Breakfast (of witch she ate less then usual, as it was Brandon's birthday), Annie got dressed in an old blue frock that had many holes (most of them repaired with iron-on embroidery designs that were carelessly sown on), a red shirt that was just as warn and moth-eaten, and a warn denim hat that was the old 1970's style, and it had pockets on the side that could carry small amounts of money. Of all the clothing she had, the only one Annie liked was this particular hat. She had to look through the attic to get her clothes, and when she was three, she found this hat in an old trunk full of old clothes, half of them looked as if they used to belong to a boy. At first, she thought that they were Uncle Alfred's; then she saw the hat that was on top of the stack.

It was the hat and the inside of it had the name of Eli Gray embroidered in the inside. Annie then asked Aunt Abigail who Eli was. Aunt Abigail was very angry, but decided to tell her niece that he was her older brother, and Annie's father, but she seemed to have bitter memories of him, as her tone was harsh and sharp. Abigail took most of her brother's old clothes to donate them the next day, but she let Annie keep the hat. Maybe it was because Eli was family, or he may helped her when Abigail was young, or that was all she had to remember him by. Annie did not know. It made her aunt very upset though, so she didn't push the point.  
  
The Fiores and Annie made their way out to the car. Aunt Abigail and Brandon were already seated.  
  
"This will be a lovely day at the zoo," said Aunt Abigail. "I'm really looking forward to it."  
  
Annie was about to get in when Uncle Alfred closed the car door in her face.  
  
"Normally, I would take you to Ms. Sensai's instead of brining you along, but since she's ill. I'm warning you now, missy," said Uncle Alfred, waving his keys in her face and a growl in his voice, "any funny business, any at all, and you won't have any meals for another week. Understand?" "Yes, sir, Uncle Alfred," said Annie.  
  
"Get in," he commanded, walking over to the driver's side.  
  
Now, Annie wasn't the type to be a trouble maker, mostly because of her frequent and cruel punishments. But the fact was, she was always around if something strange or mysterious happened. When she was five, Aunt Abigail had tried to cut off all of Annie's hair to make the wig fit better. In the end, she still had all her hair, but she was forced to stay in her closet for twenty-four hours for ruining her Aunt's best pair of scissors. Then, on Brandon's seventh half-birthday, the Fiores went out to get more ice cream and left Annie and Brandon alone with his friends. Unfortunately, they managed to corner her before she could get away. Then, they tied her tightly to a chair and tried to put a wad of paper that Brandon lit in her mouth. All that Annie could remember after that was screaming as loud as she could, seeing a flash of gold light, then waking up on the other side of the yard, in the rain, with no sign of the chair or the rope, a creator in the same exact spot where she was tied, and Brandon with his friends staying as far from the site as possible.

Yet, despite her pleas and yells, as she was beaten y Alfred, then shut in her closet for two weeks and three days. The extra days had been for supposedly lying about the Fiores' perfect son, she couldn't explain that she couldn't explain what had happened. After a while, she theorized that she had been struck by ball lightning, although her recovery was almost instant, far too fast for a lightning strike victim. Then, just last Christmas, a large storm had ruined all the holiday decorations that were usually hung in the town square. They did manage to get replacements, but by that time, it was too late to put them up. That night, Uncle Alfred had gone to a Christmas Social, and didn't come home until late that evening. Brandon had long sense gone to bed, but Annie stayed up to get the door for them. As soon as Uncle Alfred set foot in the house, he started thrashing at poor Annie for no reason.

It was obvious that he had too much liquor, but it took a while for Annie to get away. She managed to lock herself in her closet, and had gone to sleep as to escape. She had dreamed that she had danced in the snow. Then levitated all of the new Christmas decorations into the air put them in their proper places and light up the whole square while Mannheim Steamroller's version of "Carol of The Bells" filled the air. When it came on the news that The Town Square was decorated over night, Annie was very shocked. Fortunately, she wasn't punished for once. Because many these peculiar things seemed linked with her, Annie was usually left with Ms. Sensai, an elderly Japanese woman who looked like everyone's grandmother. She was also very helpful to Annie, as it was she who trained her the art of oriental combat. However, she was sick in bed that day, and the Fiores didn't want Annie "spreading disease throughout the household." At this point in her thoughts, the sound of the engine starting brought her back to her seat in the here and now.  
  
At first, the morning was a miracle for Annie, as nothing strange had happened. On the way, she was allowed to roll down her window, as the air conditioner was broken. They managed to go through the primate, elephant, bird, and large cat exhibits with no problems, except for Brandon's frequent demands for the animals to be more active. Around lunch time, it started raining with the low rumble of thunder in the air. Annie had always loved thunderstorms, and would sneak out of the house just to dance in a storm. She would also be careful as to wipe away mud and dirt, as well as slip into the bathroom to clean her-self up, all without being caught. However, as the Fiores hated the rain, Annie had to go past some students from some private school to catch up with her aunt, uncle, and cousin, who were going into the reptile house. It wasn't too long until Murphy's Law of disaster set in the most unusual ways.  
  
They had stopped to look at a thirty-foot-long South American Anaconda that was asleep in its tank. Annie noticed a particularly large and wet scale that was dead center in the middle of its head. It looked a lot like an eye to Annie, but no one else seemed to notice it. Brandon's face then soured with disinterest.  
  
"Make it move," he commanded his father.  
  
"Move!" yelled Uncle Alfred, rapping at the glass with his knuckle. The snake, however, just ignored him as if he didn't exist.  
  
"MOVE!" shouted Brandon, now smacking the glass as hard as he could.  
  
"He's asleep!" said Annie.  
  
"He's boring," Sulked Brandon, then he and his parents moved on to see the other reptiles while his cousin stayed behind.  
  
"Sorry about him," said Annie to the snake. "He just doesn't understand what it's like, lying there day after day, watching people press there ugly faces in at you."  
  
At that moment, the snake opened its eyes, lifted its head a bit, and it winked. Not only with it's normal eye, but what Annie thought was a large shiny scale was a real eye, as it also closed with the left one.  
  
Annie's eyes widened with amazement. As she wasn't aloud to speak of anything factious, and because she studied a lot, Annie was a girl of science, as well as one of dreams. Nevertheless, the concept of a human having the ability to converse with snakes was impossible. Yet now, she was doing something so surreal, that it was like something from a dream.  
  
"Can you hear me?" asked Annie, gently resting her hand on the glass, still starring at the three-eyed serpent in wonder.  
  
The snake rose it's head until it was level with Annie's, then it nodded. Annie continued to stare at it, then remembered her manners.  
  
"I beg your pardon," said Annie, bowing slightly, "It's just that, I've never talked to a snake before, and I know it's not polite to stare. You are a very lovely reptile. Do you? I mean. Do you talk to people often?"  
  
The snake flickered its tongue slightly, then shook its head, blinking all of its eyes. Annie continued the conversation.  
  
"I don't mean to be rude, but were you rescued by the zoo?"  
  
Again, the snake shook its head. Then it arched it's back for a moment, as if it was shrugging it's shoulders (if it had any), almost like it was inquiring why Annie asked that question.  
  
"I'm sorry, I was just curious about the eye on your forehead. I have something like that as well. Have you always had that?"  
  
Then, surprisingly, the snake nodded.  
  
"Do you know other snakes with three eyes?" The snake nodded its head again, then pointed the tip of it's tail at another tank directly across from it. The snake inside that one was a boa constrictor, and it too had a third eye in the middle of its forehead. Next, the anaconda pointed its tail at the tank to its left. The garden snake inside it had three eyes as well. No sooner did Annie get a good look at it, then the anaconda point to a diamond back rattlesnake on the left across the hall. It had three eyes, too. Then it lower it's tail. Annie looked at other snakes, to see if all of them had three eyes that she missed. A lot of them did, so she turned back to the anaconda to learn more.  
  
"Do all snakes have three eyes?" she asked.  
  
To her surprise, the snake shook its head, then pointed to a snake that Annie didn't notice before. It was a viper, and it had only two eyes. Annie didn't really like vipers, and she didn't like the look that one was giving her, so she turned back to the other snake.  
  
"I've read books about snakes and seen illustrations and photographs of them, but everything says that snakes only have two eyes. Why can't people see the third one?  
  
The snake arched its neck again, like shrugging, only this time it looked as if it was saying I don't know.  
  
"Has anyone else noticed it?" asked Annie.  
  
The snake shook its head again.  
  
"So only I can see it" she told herself.  
  
Annie could tell that her companion was getting bored with the conversation, so she chose a new topic.  
  
"Your from the Amazon rain forest, aren't you," said Annie, remembering what she read from an encyclopedia long ago. "Was it nice there? Do you miss your family?"  
  
All her questions were answered as the snake sadly turned its head to the right. Beside the tank, there was a small sign that said:  
** Bred in Captivity**.

"Oh," said Annie, "I'm so sorry. I'm the same. I never knew my parents, either."  
  
"Mum! Dad! Come here! You won't believe what this snake is doing!"  
  
It was Brandon. He ran over to the tank, and shoved Annie so hard that she skidded on the smooth concrete floor. She wasn't hurt too badly (physically speaking, that is), but as Annie starred at her brat of a cousin, gaping at the beautiful serpent that she was actually making friends with for the first time in her life, a combination of emotional hurt and anger started pulsating through her. She had tried, as long as she could remember, to make at least one friend in her life. And each time, Brandon always-shoved Annie aside, bullied others into avoiding her, or else saying awful things about her. It was a very rare moment if she wished ill will to fall upon someone, but she had had enough. Annie had always believed in a thing called Karma, or the belief that what you ever do in life comes right back at you in one form or another. Right now, she wished that something would happen that would make Brandon feel the embarrassment, the humiliation, and the shame that she had known for most of her life. She imagined the snake going through the glass, and being free to go to South America, Brandon losing his "I'm-a-tough-guy" attitude and behaving like a young child, the way he did when ever he saw a spider.  
  
At that exact moment, something unexpected and extraordinary happened. At first, Brandon was leaning against the glass, gawking at the magnificent serpent. Then, in a split second, the glass in front of him disappeared. As Brandon's weight was no longer being supported by his center of gravity, and he wasn't leaning on anything anymore, his great mass was overcome by the Earth's gravitational pull, causing him to fall into the anaconda's artificial pond. [Yes, I am a science freak, but the main character does think on a scientific level in this part of the story, and I'm just trying to pull the reader into her mind] The serpent, seeing the opportunity, slithered over Brandon's massive stomach, paused to look at his face, then slithered onto the floor. Hissing in a way that suggested it was chuckling from the look of fear Brandon had on his face (which did look very humorous at the moment).  
  
Annie was still sprawled on the floor, and was a little nervous about her slithering acquaintance. It raised its head until it was level with hers, but instead of rapping itself around the young girl, as anacondas did with larger pray then her, it smiled.  
  
"Thanksss," said the beautiful three-eyed snake with a hiss. Annie was very amazed about the snake speaking, but it felt strangely natural, like in a dream.  
  
"Any time," said Annie, in a voice a little louder and a bit more high- pitched then intended. This was beyond weird for her. Every other abnormal thing that she had been through could have had a scientific explanation. The scissors that were ruined years ago may have been a fault of the manufacturer, or Aunt Abigail trying to cut off too much hair at once. The dream that happened in reality as well as Annie's mind on Christmas could have been just coincidence. In addition, her ball-lightning theory seemed more likely then Annie causing it. Yet this time, science could be involved with what was happening.  
  
The anaconda gave Annie one last wink with its right and middle eye then slithered to the door. It wasn't long when everyone jumped out of the way or else ran toward the nearest exit, screaming and shouting, "Snake!" as they tried to stay as far away from the anaconda as they could. Annie hoped that her serpentine associate would make it to its proper habitat without any problems.  
  
Brandon finally seemed to have regained feeling in his legs when he rose to get out of the anaconda's tank. However, he received another nasty surprise; the glass reappeared as if it had never left, and Brandon was now trapped inside the snake's tank with no visible way out.  
  
"Mum? Mummy?" he started panicking, sounding like a small child. Then he screamed for his mother. The Fiores were hurrying passed the tank as fast as they could. Apparently, they heard about the escaped anaconda, and were looking for their cherished son. Then Aunt Abigail turned to see her precious boy banging on the glass as hard as he could, soaking wet, and crying like a frightened infant.

"My darling baby!" screamed Aunt Abigail, "How on Earth did you get in there!?!"  
  
She, too, started banging as hard as she could, crying for her dear baby dumpling, while Uncle Alfred tried to think of a way to get him out. Now, Annie knew that Brandon and Aunt Abigail were scared out of their wits, but instead of screaming, Brandon should have just stayed calm while his parents should have gone to get help. The sight of her step-family acting like chickens with their heads cut off was very funny, and Annie couldn't help but let out a small laugh. Unfortunately for her, Uncle Alfred heard it. She stopped just in time, but she knew that by the look he gave her that she was in big trouble. They did manage to get Brandon out of there, but the Fiores did have to pay for the damage that was done to the tank during their son's extraction. The zoo did give Brandon a free blanket and a teddy bear to calm him down, as he was mildly traumatized from being trapped in a reptile's holding tank. Indeed, when he wasn't shivering, he was hyperventilating.  
  
When they got home, he was still in a rough state, so his mother made him a cup of hot chocolate. However, Annie had barley taken three steps when Uncle Alfred grabbed her by the wig, which was still securely pinned to her head.  
  
"What happened?!" he yelled in Annie's ear.  
  
"I swear, I don't know!" she yelled, her eyes watering with pain, as she tried to brake free of the firm grip that was pulling on her scalp.  
  
He let out a growl. Then, still holding on to the wig, he threw Annie by the scalp into the corner in front of her closet. A good number of hairs were pulled as the force Alfred exerted on Annie caused the hair to be forced out of their follicles; while Annie's head hit the wooden edge of a nearby table hard enough for a trickle of blood to run down her face. She let out a scream of pain when she landed on the floor with great force. Then her uncle gave Annie a hard kick in the gut for screaming. It felt as if a hard, round stone inside her body were being moved around violently.  
  
"DON'T LIE!" shouted Alfred. "YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! YOU DID IT! _What did you do!?!"  
_ "Nothing!" Annie shrieked. "Honest! One minute the glass was there. Then it was gone! I can't explain it! It was like magic!"  
  
Now she did it. She had sealed her fate. The Fiores had a very Puritan attitude toward anything that could be described as "magical," even if it was from television, a storybook, or an experience. As soon as Annie let the word "magic" slip from her lips, Alfred flung the door to her closet open, threw her and her belongings in there, and locked her inside. And just before he slammed the shutters of her vent, her only source of proper light and fresh air, shut, he leaned very close to it and growled "There's no such thing as magic!" Then, he left a broken, bruised, and bloody Annie to cry in the darkness.

**TIME TO VOTE!  
** ** Remember send in your vote w/ your review!  
Zodiac Academy of Sorcery (ME)  
OR  
Avalon Academy of Sorcery (SAILOR SPIRIT AQUARIUS)  
{In case your wondering we're running the poll until it comes time to  
release the name of the school}**

**P.S. some one Vote for my idea please! i'm on the losing side of a bet here!**


	3. 2 The Crystal Journey

Disclaimer 

We DO NOT own Sailor Moon, Harry Potter, or what ever else Sailor Spirit Aquarius and I, princessbookangel21000 decide to throw in (we only wish we did!).

CHAPTER 2

The Crystal Journey

As Annie sat there, huddled up in a little ball, tears flowed down her face, like the blood from hitting that table. She felt the darkness and despair that had accumulated over ten years, creep up around her in that small space. Why did she deserve to receive all this abuse for things that were out of her control? Why did she have to live with such horrid people? It seemed as if Annie's purpose in life was to be shut up in a tiny corner that no one notices, without any sign of love. Getting blamed for everything, even if it couldn't be anyone's fault, and being made to live with people who hurt you physically, and emotionally was almost a daily occurrence. If this was what life was about, then what was the point in her existence? Why couldn't she have gone with her parents in that alleged fire? Why did she have to be with such a family, where the feeling of being unwanted was experienced more often then that of 'family affection'? Why did she have to live like this? Annie would sometimes have fantasies about going away on a magical train, away from the Fiores. To meet the other children from her dreams in reality was a concept that she had often wished for. She would also have daydreams of that forest at the end of the street; the one people thought was haunted. She would imagine what it would be like to go in there. If she could, she would run away into that forest, away from the pain and misery that she was enduring at that very moment. Possibly, try to find a family who at leased cared a little, like one boy in her dreams, who, like her, experienced what it was to be an orphan, but was adopted. The more she thought about how absent any sign of love was from her abusive family as it had been for ten of her life, the more pain sheared through her, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, causing her to cry harder. 

"Shut up you stupid freak!" she heard Brandon yell, kicking at her door. "You have no right to cry after what happened to me!" "And get out of those bloody clothes while your at it," shouted Alfred. "If you got some on the walls which your aunt will have to clean while your in there then you surely will have some on your clothes so take them off. Then put them by the door so that we can get them clean if we have guests by the time you're out of there."

Annie gave the door a very hurt and dirty look that she wished she could send through it. Then took off everything that she had worn that day, and replaced them with a set of deco-aqua coloured night- gown that had a very uncomfortable ruff at the neck and wrists. Then she quietly sobbed some more, with no awareness of time, until she finally cried herself to sleep.

At first, she was lying in darkness, while a steady dripping sound echoed through her mind, when she felt a strange light come through her closet. When it wouldn't fade, she opened her eyes. She saw that it was coming through the door, which was ajar. It was also very late, according to the clock at the end of the hallway. "_What's going on?_" she thought. "_Surely, I can't be out of trouble this early after what happened._"

At first, Annie pondered on why her door would be opened. She knew that the Fiores tried to keep the door locked at all times when she was being punished, even when they went to get her bloody laundry. It seemed unnatural for an early freedom. That's when an idea struck her like lightning. _Freedom_! The opportunity that lay before her was something that could never have been taken for reality in Annie's mind. This was the chance that she dreamed about, the chance to break away from the mistreatment, scorn, and abuse she was forced to endure with for the last ten years of her life; Annie could now escape from the Fiores! Maybe she could change her name, to prevent the Fiores from finding her. Ms. Sensai had called her Serina when they first met, but that was because, apparently, she mistook Annie for her adoptive niece. She liked the name a lot, as it seemed to fit her better then Annie, so Serina would become her new identity, and she would leave the name of Annie behind her. Serina was going to be more open, more expressive, and less meek and quiet then she ever was as Annie. She was so excited about all of the possibilities she didn't even bother to change out of her pajamas.

Quickly, Serina wrapped her hair up in a pair of Japanese Ponytails as to keep it out of her face, leapt off her mattress. Opening the door enough for her to slip through, but slow enough to keep it from making any noise was the key to her successful escape. There was no sign of the source of that mysterious light, but she was more concerned about her exit at that moment, and hadn't given it a second thought. "_It was just the moonlight reflecting of something_," she assured her self. She knew that the Fiores would have an alarm system on at night, so Serina decided to go onto the roof, down onto the porch and on the ground. Then she noticed that light again out of the corner of her eye.

It was that silvery, blueish-white light again, the same one that came in through her door, only this time, it was coming from where the back door was. "_That's odd_," she thought. What was going on? She approached the back door carefully. It to was slightly open. "_Is someone trying to break in?_" Serina knew how dangerous it was for her to approach someone, who was forcing entry, as it was more likely then not that person was armed. She was more than ready mentally and physically for such an event, and decided to take the chance. She was very grateful for Ms. Sensai's training.

Serina peered through the door, to see how many people were outside, but saw no one. All the porch, house, and streetlights, including those of the Fiores' house, were out. It looked like a great power outage, but no one seemed to notice the strange, shadowy street. Only the full, silver-white moon made it possible to see around the neighborhood. It was unusually bright, and seemed a bit closer then normal. Serina had always loved to look at the moon, even more then being out in the rain. She could remember sneaking on to the roof sometimes, just to watch the moon. On rare occasions, she would actually fall asleep outside, from being out so late. Then she'd wake up just before dawn, and go back in her closet, as not to let the Fiores know where she had been.

All of a sudden, Serina heard the rumbling of thunder off in the distance. She looked around, and saw a blanket of large, dark, cumulonimbus clouds that flashed with blue-white lightning (the kind that usually meant heavy rain or hail). It moved abnormally quickly, and it wasn't long before the rain started coming down on Serina. It felt wonderful, the cool water falling on her face, almost cleansing, in a way. Before long, she started dancing and running around in the storm, under the moonlight. Then she noticed that the moon was still very visible. The storm, despite its quickness, didn't advance any farther. It was as if it didn't _want_ to obstruct the moon. "_This is weird_," thought Serina. "_Why would a storm move so fast, then stop so soon?_" it was at that moment, that she saw that silver-blue white light out of the corner of her eye.

Serina turned around, and saw, at last, the source of the mysterious light. It was coming from a small, cluster if blueish-white crystals. The entire group was roughly 7.62(almost 3 inches) centimeters wide, and the largest one in the center was about 20.32(almost 8 inches) centimeters in height. Although the surface looked as hard as quartz, the inside radiated with the strange light that kept shifting, as if it were made of liquid. Serina remembered reading in a fantasy book once, that crystals were frozen light. However, she had always thought that was just a fairy-story, not real. Still, the blue-white crystals looked like ice cubes that weren't frozen through. "_Wow! It's so beautiful_," marveled Serina, stretching out her hand to touch it. Then she withdrew it as she wondered."_How did it get here?_"

She looked around, to see if there was someone about, but instead, she saw another crystal group, only forty-three centimeters(1-2 inches) away from the first one, then another one that was the same distance. In fact, there was an entire trail of these glowing crystals, and it looked as if it was going into the nearby forest. Serina had always wanted to go into these woods, but someone had always told her not to, that it was too dangerous. At first, Serina was a bit apprehensive; especially sense there was a thick fog seeping out from behind the nearby trees. Then, she felt something call her. It wasn't a voice, but more like a force that was requesting her to go, pulling her towards the woods. Her curiosity intensified, and Serina decided to take the risk. "_Well_," she thought, _"No one can get answers for questions without searching for them_." And with that, Serina started running along the way indicated by the crystal path.

Serina felt it again, the magnetic force that wanted her to go into the woods as she ran. She noticed that the storm seemed to follow her. Not that she minded, but it was a very metaphysical experience. Even more supernatural, the moon was still shining very clearly, without a single cloud to obstruct it. "_What a strange storm_," pondered Serina. "_And what is this feeling that's calling me?_" she ran faster, and made it through the trees. She paused to catch her breath. The mist was so thick, that she could only see two crystal clusters distinctly, and three hazy lights beyond her range of clear vision. For a split second, Serina wanted to go back, then she felt the strange impulses push her on. "_I wonder if I'm getting closer_," she thought. At this point, she started shivering slightly, Serina slowed down a bit to conserve her energy. After walking for a while, she came across a fork in her path, but this time, there were no more crystals to follow. She was reminded of a tune she heard when she was very little. "_Which way shall you go, which path shall you take? If you don't take any you'll surely make a mistake!_" Serina wondered which road to take, looked around to see if she took a wrong turn, but discovered that the other crystals had disappeared. The thick haze made it impossible for Serina to find her way back without getting hopelessly lost. She looked at her dead end, just to see if she missed something, then she noticed the silver-blue light again. There was a new extension of the pathway of crystals, leading through the left fork. Serina _knew_ that there wasn't a crystal there before, and felt uneasy. That was when the impelling force that brought Serina to that point rekindled inside of her, pushing her to go on.

Serina hurried deeper into the woods, wondering what the shimmering crystals would lead her to. By this time, she was soaked, and very cold. At last, Serina came upon a clearing in what seemed like the heart of this Forest of Mist.

In front of her, was a small lake that was about as large as the Fiore's back yard thrice over. Just beyond the lake on the other side of it, parallel to Serina, was a large, subterranean passage that looked like a great, projecting hill that had come above the surface over time. The large boulders at the mouth were made of the same, shining crystal that the mystic pathway consisted of. "_Is that where I'm supposed to go?_" Serina pondered. "_If it is, then how could I get there?_" the cave was more like an island when she tried to walk around, so Serina couldn't go around that pond, and there wasn't a boat to use. She could swim, (she could remember the times Brandon had tried to drown her) but she wasn't sure how deep it was. Serina gently picked up a stone, and cast it into the water. She couldn't hear what was happening, and it was obvious that it dropped straight down without a 'shore'. Without warning, a flash of lightning suddenly struck the water, illuminating what was underneath (as well as causing Serina to jump back). For a split second, she could see large, sharp, underwater stalagmites that made it almost impossible to swim through.

Serina sat down in the fog as she contemplated her methods of getting passed this obstacle. It was clear that this was where she was supposed to go, and there was no way back at this point. For a while, Serina thought of attempting to go back to the Fiores', only it was _they_ who were the reason why she ran away in the first place. The crystals were just a hopeful destination point that she secretly wished would lead to a _real_ home.

After about ten minutes (which felt more like an hour), it was obvious that there was no other way around it. She couldn't turn back, go around, get help, or stay. Again, the strange feeling that kept whispering to her pulsated, more urgently. This was obviously, one of those times when she had to risk everything on faith. _"Well, this is it,"_ she thought hoping that whatever had brought her to that point would get her to that island cave. Serina stood up and went to the edge of the water, and, holding her breath, stepped into the water.

(or should I say onto ?)Serina gasped. She was still standing, with only her toes slightly submerged, but she couldn't feel anything below that resembled solid ground. She looked down, and saw no support underneath. _"What in the world is going on?"_ Serina thought as she stood on the water. If there ever was such a thing as magic, she would definitely consider that a reasonable explanation for what was going on. There was nothing in her studies that said that this was possible in this reality. For a minute, Serina was unable to move out of apprehension, then that unknown power from inside her throbbed again, pushing her forward. Putting great trust into whatever was keeping her from sinking, She walked towards the glowing crystal cave. It felt weird to walk on such an unusual surface. The greatest fear was that whatever _was_ keeping her afloat would give away. She was afraid of looking down at her feet, so she focused on the cave in front of her.

The mouth of the cave was at least twelve feet tall and had a very wide entrance. The large stones that made up the threshold were positioned symmetrically, and did look like there was liquid light inside. However, upon closer investigation, Serina noticed that each crystal was of a slightly different pigment. She felt very small as she went through the mouth of the cavern, but when she did, a remarkable sight met her eyes.

Crystals of every colour in the spectrum, of practically every shade of those colours. Most of those shades without the possession of a name, lined every inch of the grate cavern wall to wall, and even on the natural ceiling, like a colossal geode. It was about twenty-one and a half feet at its base, and at the top of the crystalline dome was approximately that same measurement with three more feet added. The light coming through the mouth made the cave glitter like stars. Serina wished that she had at least ten more eyes to see it all with its splendor. She was so absorbed in the beauty of the underground chamber that as she approached it's center, she didn't notice that she was standing on solid ground again, with her feet still slightly submerged in the water. What she did notice, though, was that the cave was growing darker.

She wheeled around to see that the mouth of the cave was closing. In a panic, Serina ran to the opening, but when she got there, the cavern had sealed itself seamlessly shut. All that she could feel were the crystals that lined the rest of the large geode, and there was complete darkness around her, not unlike what she left.

"Is there anyone out there?" she yelled out, hitting in a smooth part of the wall. Her voice echoed throughout the chamber. "I'm trapped in here! Can somebody please get me out?"

There was no answer.

"Please!" Serina called out again hitting the solid rock harder. "I can't get out! Can anybody here me!"

Again, no answer, except her own echo. As her pleas for help remained unheard, she began to regret leaving that horrid house. She may have been abused and mistreated, but at least she had a _little_ food, and the chance to go out now and then. It looked more as if she was going to be trapped in this crystal cavern forever.

"Please!" Serina screamed one last time, hitting the wall as hard as she could, "Get me out of here!" As her voice echoed across the dome, large tears began to form.

A single tear fell down her face and hit the water with a quiet drip. It was at that moment, when light filled the place as the crystals in there suddenly shined with they're own brilliant glow. Serina turned around to see the kaleidoscope of colour and light that took the place of the darkness. Serina was so captivated by her surroundings that the thought of being practically buried alive left her mind as she moved to the midpoint of the geodesic dome. She blinked, and another tear fell into the water. There was a slight rumble, and rocks began to drop. Thinking that the cave was collapsing, Serina let out a yell, kneeled down, shut her eyes tightly, and put her arms above her head to brace for impact as stones fell from the great height. When it all grew quiet, Serina opened her eyes and stood to see what had happened. A hole, in the shape of a perfect circle, and roughly two feet in diameter, appeared in the focal point of the great topside, and a shaft of pure white light appeared. It was so bright, that it made the crystalline walls appear dim before it. Serina stretched out her hand into the light, purely out of awe, then stood in its midpoint.

It was so blinding, she had to put up her hand to see what was up there clearer. She noticed a small peak drifting down into the cave. As soon as it entered, all the crystals that covered the wall flew off the walls with an almost explosive force. Again, Serina put her arms up without thinking. It didn't take much to realize that she wasn't harmed, but she looked up when she didn't hear a splash. The crystals that had lined the walls only seconds before were levitating at different heights, and, still glowing very softly, began to revolve around Serina steadily. The actual cavern was formed out of a fine type of quartz that made the sight even more splendid. Indeed, the kaleidoscopic display was enough to make her wish that she could see more then the human body could allow. At this point, she could see what was drifting towards her, and stepped aside to let it drift to the bottom.

It was a butterfly made out of silver quartz, set within a thin, golden hoop. Despite fact that it was about a third of Serina's hand in size, it drifted as gently and as lightly as a snowflake on a calm winter's evening. Its wings had tiny jewel shards imbedded in them, giving it that silver-rainbow colour. As it got lower, the crystals that were orbiting it, as well as Serina, grew dimmer and dimmer. When the butterfly finally hit the water, all the crystals stopped shining there own light, and fell to Earth with millions of splashes that, for some reason, didn't disturb the estrange jewel. In fact, as Serina dodged the falling crystals, she accidentally sprayed water over to where it was, and witnessed that the water splashed off of the beam of light, much like it would to a post at a dock. When all was calm, the butterfly drifted until it reached the edge if the light beam. Serina wasn't sure whether she was imagining it or not, but it seemed as if the cavity in the ceiling was constricting slightly. The beam was now in the shape of a perfect crescent on its side, exactly like her birthmark, with the butterfly also vertical. Entranced by the unusuality of the placing, Serina slowly walked toward the beam, stopping short of it. Hesitating, she stretched out her hand, wondering whether or not if the shaft coming from the top of the cavern was light or not. It definitely was, but silvery, multicoloured sparks seemed to fly off her hand and the part of her arm that was covered in the light, causing her to retract it out of shock. Serina examined her hand, but saw that it wasn't at all harmed, nor was it glittering. She didn't even feel anything (with the exception of how fast her heart was beating). Serina looked back at the shaft, then at her hand. Then, without even knowing what she was doing, Serina closed hr eyes, and stepped into the light.

There wasn't a part of her that wasn't in shadow. She opened her eyes, and saw that she was giving off that same, silver-rainbow aura. Slowly, but surely, the light that was coming off her got brighter and brighter. Serina, out of awe, spun around once, seeing her aura sweep off of her very being, like glittering sand being blown off a rock on a windy desert mountain. Serina looked at the blinding source of light and felt again the sacred sensation of her soul being purged of all the negativity that she had unwillingly excepted as the purpose of light. Suddenly, the light she was giving off died, as the crescent shaped beam turned into a golden light that came from the ground, and the water began to swirl around her. As she stood there, frozen, Serina thought that the place was filling with water. Then she felt the surface she was standing on give away. The source of the gold light became larger, but whatever surface was there quickly disappeared.

She sank into the ground like a stone out of the window. Serina fought her way back to the surface, gasping for breath. Panicking, she swam until her feet felt level ground again. She had barely stood there for three seconds when she sank again. Serina did manage to get back on her feet, but as she ran, she felt the water level rising rapidly as a large whirlpool began to form. When she touched the wall, the water was already up to her waist. Serina started banging on the enclosure, pleading for help again to the nonexistent person outside. When logic finally kicked in, she decided to try to use her own strength on her prison. She focused her energies, took a deep breath, and gave the quartz barrier a punch that would have normally smashed three two-inch slabs of solid concrete.

The next thing that happened was extreme pain flowing from her fist to her arm. Serina's yell bounced off the wall, unheard to the outside world, but at least nothing was badly damaged. As for the wall itself, Serina found to great surprise (as she rubbed her sore hand) that it didn't even have a scratch. Turning to see what was going on, Serina whitened as the whirlpool that had started was now a whirling, glowing vortex. The crystals that came off the cave were now spinning so fast that they looked like multicoloured blurs that were quickly disappearing into the unknown. Serina knew, as the water level got higher and the maelstrom became consuming, that she was probably going to die in there. She could hold her breath for a long time, but the water would make it more difficult. The strong current would also add complications. Then there was the fact that there more then likely wasn't a way out of the great eddy (vortex), and no way of coming up for air. At least, if she died, she would be where the Fiore's wouldn't be able to hurt her anymore in that lifetime.

However, the current had taken hold of Serina before she was ready, and she was swept off her feet and dragged under the water before she could inhale. She fought the vortex as hard as she could, and did manage to take a quick breath, but the force of the swirling water made it impossible for her to hold it for more then a few seconds. She came up again, and gasped for air. Serina could see the quartz cave spinning further and further away from her as she was swiftly being pulled to it's core. Repeatedly, she was submerged, surfaced enough to breathe, then submerged again. When she came to it's center, she took a last breath, and was drawn into the golden heart of the whirlpool.

It was one of the strangest experiences Serina had ever gone through. She passed through (what felt and looked like) a thin film of water, much like going from one bubble to another. On the other side, the crystals that were towed in with her seemed to warp out of reach. Then, Serina saw what appeared to be a narrow tunnel. At what felt like a great speed, she flew through the tube-like passageway. There was no real 'top' or 'bottom', as they looked the same. The upper and lower parts of the 'Mind Tunnel' (as Serina classified it when she first entered) were, like the crystals, a full spectrum of interchanging colours of light. The sides looked like outer space, except that it looked like it was submerged. However, there was no real 'top' or 'bottom', as they looked the same. Then it happened.

There was a bright light that looked like a star hurtling towards her. Serina thought that she was going to crash into it, when the tunnel took a sharp turn. She remembered reading about things called Wormholes, tunnels that ripped through space and time, and acted as a shortcut between parts of space. The passage she was flying through seemed to be more then likely a wormhole, but Serina had always believed them to be theoretical.

It happened again; another star came dangerously close to her, but she was turned away safely in an entirely different direction. Serina noticed that the wormhole had different tunnels that ranched off it; not that she needed to worry about which direction to go in; as the mind tunnel seemed to know where she needed to go. This repeated when she least expected it as she dodged stars, comets, and what she could have sworn to be an occasional planet. Left, right, middle fork, up, right again, down, spiral; she tried to prepare for the sudden moves and directions as they changed, but it was impossible. As she passed through the mind tunnel, Serina started having flashbacks of each time that a supernatural event happened to her. The time when Serina decorated the town in one night, the time when she became consumed by that light on Brandon's birthday year's back. And not to mention, the time when she was pulled to shore by a strange current when she was pushed into a river, and every dream she had that involved those other children that were as different as she was. Suddenly, everything stopped. Serina seemed to be floating in space, protected by a liquid-like bubble of air that would let her observe her surroundings. Serina looked to the right slightly, and gave a great gasp of awe. In front of her was the moon, but it was close enough to her that she could see practically every detail of its surface. Then she noticed something very odd. There was a dense part of it that seemed to go on for a few miles near the Sea of Serenity. "_Is that... a forest?_" she thought. Then she turned to what was right next to it. The small area seemed to be littered with unusually shaped stones that seemed to resemble ruins. Serina shook her head, wondering why in the universe she was thinking thoughts that were unbelievably fictitious. The concept of life on the moon! Such a thought would have her laughed at by children her age and would have probably gotten her a beating from Uncle Alfred. That was when another thought struck her. "_What if I need to go back?_" she wondered. Truthfully, Serina didn't want to go back to the Fiores, but if she had to, how was she going to get there? She tried to remember the route she had taken, but those efforts proved to be futile. That was when, without warning she suddenly started hurling through what felt like a giant tube again. It didn't take long for her to realize that she was going through another wormhole. Faster and faster she went, passing stars and planets, until a silver-white light, like the one in the crystal cavern, came into view. It didn't really look like a star, but it was as bright as a nova. Was that where she was supposed to go? Serina began to spiral, her rotational period accelerating dangerously. The light was spinning faster towards her. She was going to crash right into that light. Serina let out a yell, then…

Serina fell onto solid ground, landing feet first, out of the sky. That was the greatest rush she had experienced in her ten years of life. "_Did I just die?_" She wondered. Physically, she didn't feel any better off then when she left the Fiores. Serina had always believed that, when a person died, that they would feel that they were in the best health of his or her life. Serina felt very shaken from the journey through the tunnel. She decided to test out weather she was dead, and bit her finger. The fact that she felt pain when she bit, and the fact that it bled, seemed to rule out the possibility if being dead. Serina straightened up, and looked around to see where (or when) she was. What she saw made her stop in her tracks.

HAHAHA! CLIFFHANGER! Hey wasn't that a good chapter? I thought so any way. Hey, is any one else upset about how the November elections turned out besides me? DEAN RULES! Bushes Sucks! (No offence to any Republicans, or Bush supporters!)

ELECTIONS!

Remember send in your vote w/ your review!

Zodiac Academy of Sorcery (Me, prinncessbookangel21000)

OR

Avalon Academy of Sorcery (Sailor Spirit Aquarius)

In case your wondering we are running the poll until it comes time to release the name of the school

**Somebody ****_please_ Vote for me I'm losing my bet!**

Poll currently stands at:

Zodiac Academy of Sorcery:

2

Avolon Academy of Sorcery:

2


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